Redfall Reviews
Redfall is one of the worst-performing games I’ve played in years, and even when it’s working, it’s undercooked and uninspired. It’s impossible to say if this is the case, but Refall ‘feels’ like a game that has succumbed to too much compromise. There’s a world where there’s a great version of this concept, complete with a much grander vision, however, we sadly don’t live in that timeline.
In all my years of gaming, I struggle to think of ever feeling a sense of disappointment as profound as I do when playing Redfall. Sure, you can increase the fun factor by adding a few buddies into the equation, the varied classes lending themselves well to group play, and there are glimpses of something great when you’re afforded the opportunity to slow down in one of the more tightly scripted missions, but these positives merely serve as momentary distractions from the multitude of issues that plague Arkane Austin’s latest effort. Between the half-baked gameplay loops, repetitive open-world busy work, and shockingly poor optimization, Redfall feels like a title that’s still in alpha, never mind a product that’s supposed to represent a flagship release for Microsoft’s premium subscription service.
Redfall tries to bite far more than it can chew and delivers a package with a middling presentation, a lack of interesting mechanics, and some pretty woeful performance. Despite its issues, and perhaps like its cultists, I want to love it - it just won't love me back.
Redfall is an amalgamation of ideas from other more popular video games, however, lacking in its own originality and entertainment value.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
From a studio having delivered far better and should in all likelihood have done so once more, Redfall is an uncharacteristically poor and cobbled-together brand of tedium.
Redfall makes concessions to work as a middling multiplayer game at the expense of a promising single-player experience.
Between the failed infiltration and dreary fights, Redfall leaves us with a particularly bitter taste.
Review in French | Read full review
Redfall isn't as unplayable as some of the most intense reaction might lead you to believe. That said, we found it to be a rather mindless experience, often finding ourselves going through the motions. And when considering how it falls short in ways we wouldn't have expected from an Arkane title, the game is sadly a disappointment.
Redfall is an initially compelling game, but once it bears its teeth the sheer lack of quality propped up by unfinished ideas is abundantly clear.
Arkane's open-world vampire shooter has some of the developer's trademark spark, but is let down by an identity crisis and technical woes
Despite occasional flourishes, Arkane's latest game feels fundamentally at odds with itself
Arkane takes a stab at infusing the genre du jour with its signature style, but the end results are a bloody mess.
Redfall is a bafflingly bad time across the board. Plagued with bland missions, boneheaded enemies, and repeated technical problems, Redfall simply wasn’t ready for daylight in this state.
Redfall's empty open world, flimsy shooting, and siloed systems make for a flat, dull experience.
Redfall might not be the worst game released in 2023, but I don’t think I have played something more uninspired. It looks dated, its performance is disappointing, its plot is bland, the controls are glitchy, and the entire gameplay loop is the most generic and passion-devoid AAA schtick you could think of. If Arkane clearly wasn’t willing to make this game, then why would any of us should or want to care about it? Not even the fact it’s on Gamepass makes it being worth downloading it and playing for a day or two.
Redfall gets everything wrong right from the start, and any attempt by the developers to save what can be saved turns out to be completely drained and lacking grit. The insurmountable mountain of narrative, technical and creative problems instantly extinguish the feeble dim light that could be glimpsed in the distance.
Review in Italian | Read full review
A disappointing take on open-world first-person shooters, Redfall has none of the flavour or mechanical finesse that we’ve come to expect from Arkane Studios.
If I am being sincere, Redfall feels closer to a beta than a finished product. It isn’t just missing polish; many elements are in the wrong place. There isn’t much of an end game or reason to grind, nor did I find any weapon that seemingly changed the face of the game. At most, I found more accessible ways to do things resulting in my build always having a UV and stake weapons. Despite this, I think Redfall will benefit significantly from Xbox Game Pass. Even if the product I reviewed was in a rough place, I still had fun. Arkane Studios has time to improve it, two additional characters are coming in the future, and 60 FPS is in the works; it’s just a shame our first impression was nowhere near what we’ve come to expect from Arkane Studios or the genre.
There is the framework of a decent game buried in the mix but Redfall is going to require some serious TLC in the form of patches and updates to get it to where the developers and gamers had hoped for it to be. As it stands now, it is an interesting idea that fails to connect both goals and expectations.
Despite being about vampires, Redfall has no fangs of its own. The only thing it shares with the undead blood-suckers is that it’s lifeless.